


Mångata — The Path the Forgotten Walk

by EthelPhantom



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27471256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: Oblivion, to where the forgotten travel, is one name for the place some know as C's World. It is also one name for the place no one wants to see, for the place bearers of the Code end up at over time.It is better that way, certainly....But what then, what then if someone travels there out of their own will?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	1. For All That is Lost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverWhiteRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWhiteRaven/gifts), [PersephonesCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersephonesCat/gifts), [The_Reading_Dragon_Rider](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Reading_Dragon_Rider/gifts), [TotallyAHuman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotallyAHuman/gifts), [Nieri_is_a_cat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nieri_is_a_cat/gifts).



> In which I really shouldn't be given real people to work with. Oh goodness. 
> 
> Also look, I'm back on my CG bullshit. Yes, canon characters will end up finding their way into this thing as time goes on.
> 
> For now though, enjoy.

Somewhere near the lake, on the rocks far above, a young woman — or perhaps a girl, Lora wasn’t too certain — was sitting next to M.M.. She had never met her before. It was strange. She had thought M.M. had already introduced her to all of her friends, but apparently not. After all, this was not Ni, it wasn’t Gabs, it wasn’t Sil. So… who was she?

She stepped on a stick. It snapped in two under her foot. M.M. whipped around to look at the source of the sound and her face brightened as she scrambled up to her feet and ran to Lora. 

It was strange, in a way. Not because M.M. reacted like that, but because the woman didn’t react at all — not to the way M.M. called out to Lora, not to the fact she suddenly got up and ran to someone, not to the sound that came from Lora stepping on that branch. Instead she remained there, watching the view in front of her, as though frozen in time. As though she was a ghost, or something akin to that.

“My Orchid! There’s someone I’d like for you to meet!”, she said happily, excitement twinkling in her eyes. It was adorable, the way she lit up when she wanted to show her something. 

Lora nodded, following as M.M. took her to the young woman with hair longer than she had ever seen on another human being — not that her own was actually that long, it was mostly curly and grew in width, because screw curls —, and the colour of it… crimson. 

Crimson, which only reminded her of the blood she had seen far too much to be under twenty. 

(Although, technically, she had seen quite a lot of blood in her life since periods… but that wasn’t the point here!)

The woman turned around to look at them, tilting her head, and— 

> _ — There’s this thing about solitude. It gets to you. It eats you alive. —  _

Lora could recognise her after all (although that didn’t mean she knew her name). 

She had not changed a day despite the fact the last time they met was over a decade ago. 

_...Did she have a Code like M.M.? _

It seemed she, too, recognised Lora, because she raised her brows, surprised. Neither of them had the heart to say anything to M.M..

“So, my Orchid, this is Moth-er!!” M.M. said, smiling and clapping her hands as her hair bounced along with her. Lora couldn’t help herself and smiled at the excited behaviour, momentarily not realising she still didn’t know the mysterious woman’s name. 

The woman stretched her hand to Lora, waiting for her to take it. Lora did, and she was pretty sure she could not remember the last time someone had touched her willingly on the first meeting — or the second, whatever — despite the fact she was a Number; A fact that had, after the third time she had rebelled against Britannian soldiers publicly, had the Nobles brand her collarbone. It was visible, easily accessible, and difficult to hide, but considered ‘mild’ and ‘fitting’ for someone rebelling yet again. 

After all, it  _ could  _ be hidden with specific clothing. 

It was just... not all that simple. 

The woman gave her a nod and shook her hand. “It is my pleasure to meet the person M.M. will not cease talking about,” she said, and Lora felt like screaming because  _ M.M. talked about her?  _ She probably still shouldn’t scream. That would be frowned upon in all twenty or so Areas. And considering she didn’t know how the woman would take it...

“Sure,” she just said instead, and let go as soon as she could. The woman’s hand was cold,  _ freezing,  _ and Lora had no idea how she could live with that. To her, if her own hands were cold, it basically meant the entire day sucked because cold hands meant cold everything soon enough, and she really didn’t like cold at all.

And the interaction was over just like that. M.M. kept talking to Lora, while the woman watched from the side. It was strange. 

Some time later, the woman pulled M.M. aside and gave her a warm hug before saying something Lora couldn’t hear. It seemed like goodbyes, but she wasn’t too sure. Was it? Then she ruffled her hair and M.M. grumbled, but it didn’t look like she was actually annoyed. 

_ Maybe M.M. hadn’t been kidding when she called the woman her mother — or was it moth-er? Well, same difference — because they certainly seemed like they were close, like a parent that truly and genuinely cared and a child.  _

_ She kind of wished the woman would have treated her like that, too. _

The woman pressed a pendant in M.M.'s hand before walking away, past Lora, and stopped just behind her. “ _ Take care of yourself, Lora. If you do not, she will be sad.”  _ The moment she turned around, though, the woman was gone, and seriously, she gave her the creeps, what the fuck. __

_... That voice, and the way she spoke... _

_ Her— _


	2. Will Once More Be Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp.

_ 5th of December 2007 a.t.b. _

_ Hungary, the future Area Twenty _

E.E. sat in a cave in front of a small fire, watching a child lie on the ground. The child… How pitiful. She seemed too young to be alone. Where were her parents, or did they even care? Were they alive, dead, or had the war taken them? After all, there was war, again, or perhaps still, because Charles would never stop until all of the world was in his grasps. He would not stop until that were to happen, or until he would get to C’s world and destroy the world as it was known now. 

He wouldn’t stop. 

_ That egotistical brat. _

Marianne was no better, and E.E. was worried for their children. Growing up with parents like that, it certainly didn’t make it any easier to survive in the Imperial Court. She ought to take Nunnally and Lelouch away from them, to save them. 

For now, though, her concerns were focused on the tiny child, cold and drenched. It was amusing how they had just recorded the highest temperature in the country a couple of months earlier, and now there was a child, shivering, and snow coated the ground. (It was a strange year in general. There shouldn’t have been quite so cold yet. 

Finally, the child seemed to stir out of her sleep. E.E. was on her feet in seconds, walking around the fire quickly to check on her. 

“Hol vagyok?” 

It seemed she didn’t speak English, even. That might’ve been a problem. E.E. did not know how good her Hungarian was, she hadn’t spoken it in centuries. In fact, she only knew Old Hungarian. 

Would she even understand her?

_ “In a cave. I took you here out of the cold. How might you be feeling?”  _ she asked the child, tilting her head. Then she realised the child was still shivering and in wet clothes, and goodness, she was an idiot. E.E. removed her coat quickly before handing it to the child. “ _ Here. Put this on. You need it more than I do.”  _

For some reason, the way the girl reacted to being given something twisted E.E.’s heart painfully.  _ She looked like she wasn’t used to receiving things, as though it was a shock anyone would help her without asking,  _ and how much did a child’s parents need to forget about a child to make them like this?

E.E. was  _ so close  _ to finding her parents and giving them a lesson on parenting. She herself wasn’t even a parent and yet would have done a better job. 

The girl took the coat, hesitating, and wrapped it around her small frame, clutching it tightly in her hands. “ _ It’s cold,”  _ she replied, voice quiet, eyes looking everywhere but E.E.. That was understandable. 

“ _ What is your name?” _

_ “Lora.” _

_ “It is lovely to meet you, Lora. Do you know how to get home from here?”  _

The child — Lora — shook her head. As expected. She would have to find someone to help her, then, but first, it was more important to make sure she wouldn’t freeze to death or something. That would be bad. 

In general, letting a child die would be bad if they didn’t do anything to deserve it — and children rarely did.  _ They were children, for goodness’ sake. _

They spent the next couple days together, E.E. doing her best to keep the child fed and warm. It was a little difficult at first, but in the end, they managed to find a nearby village E.E. could buy food and water from. Usually, food meant trying to find something warm to eat, and it certainly didn’t help that the child was incredibly picky. 

“ _ I would rather starve than eat that!” _

_ “Lora. Eat. You need food.” _

Finally, nearing the night of the third day, Lora crawled next to E.E. and used her as a pillow. It was probably more comfortable doing so than lying on the cold, hard ground. 

She put her arm around the child gently, stroking her arm a little as she let the child snuggle up to her and relax. It was sort of adorable, although E.E. would still not get her own children no matter what, thank you very much. Children finding her every now and then was enough parenting for her.

_ “You seem broken,”  _ Lora said quietly, and E.E. couldn’t help but freeze. She… She didn’t know how to take that statement. Especially as she was  _ right.  _ It turned out the girl was far more perceptive than she let on.

_ “Mmh. There is this thing about solitude,”  _ she began, shaking her head a little. She hoped the girl would never come to understand what she meant.  _ “It gets to you.”  _ Years, and years, and years, decades of solitude and pain, centuries of being executed and murdered and killed, either accidentally or not, all of them spent alone aside from few chance meetings with other people that wouldn’t leave right away. 

It was easier like that. She would live on forever, anyone she met would not. 

Not unless…

It didn’t matter. 

E.E. glanced at Lora from the corner of her eye and smiled, eyes void of happiness.  _ “It eats you alive.”  _

You cannot survive alone without breaking into pieces. It simply wasn’t possible. 

Lora nodded.  _ “Then I just need to make sure you’re not alone anymore. _

_ “No, child. You must go home, you cannot stay with me. I am not one a child should be near for long.” _

They didn’t talk about it again. 

The next day, E.E. picked Lora up and began walking towards the village they had visited earlier, to ask where the city she lived in was located so that she could return the child to where she belonged. Lora didn’t try to argue. 

_ It was sad, in a way. A child should have not been so used to being told no that they would simply stay quiet about a matter, not this easily. And yet, yet this one was, and she reminded E.E. of herself far too much.  _

Yet, the second they arrived at the house Lora apparently lived in, the girl seemed hesitant to go in. E.E. had to be the one to knock. Her parents appeared at the door, appearing worried and concerned, which. It was understandable. Their daughter had been gone for days. 

_ “Laura! Are you alright? You shouldn’t have gone away, we were worried sick!” _

_ “I’m sorry, mom.” _

_ “You, we’re talking about this more later.” _

_ “Thank you for bringing her back.” _

_ “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble. I’m sorry you had to deal with her.” _

E.E. hated the way they spoke. They didn’t seem like  _ bad  _ parents, per se, but not good ones either, and she really for a moment considered taking the child with her and getting out of Hungary as soon as possible. 

She didn’t do it. 

“ _ It was alright, she was not any trouble. May I talk to her for a moment, then you can take her inside?” _

Her parents nodded and walked inside, although leaving the door open to be able to see their daughter. 

“ _ Lora. Listen to me.” _

_ “Yes?” _

_ “If I grant you power, could you go on?” _

The girl’s eyes widened. “ _ What?” _

_ “If you had power, could you live? I shall propose a deal. In exchange for it, you must agree to grant my one wish. By accepting this contract, you accept its conditions, too — while living in the world of humans, you shall live unlike any other one; a different providence, a different time, a different life. The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude. If you are prepared for it, then use that power.” _

A blink. Furrowed brows.  _ “Will you explain it to me better?” _

E.E. shook her head.  _ “You are a wise child, yet I must say no. Even so, you are but a child. I will give you time until you reach adulthood to make your choice. You can choose to activate it now, but once you do, there is no turning back. If you do not, it will simply cease to exist.” _

Finally, she got a nod, a sign of agreement. E.E. offered Lora her hand, waiting for her to grab it before she closed her eyes and gifted her with a Geass. It was… It would not matter. She would not meet the child again, as she never did. 

She never met any of the people she offered a Geass to again, and it was better that way. 

_ She hoped the child would never activate her new Geass. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Lora gets to deal with my bullshit a little longer than expected.

**Author's Note:**

> :3


End file.
